French party.

Last weekend we attended a party at a gorgeous french apartment in Limoges. The theme was essentially "take off your shoes and lounge".

This place

Our last weekend in Limoges flew by and Katy and I are both in glass cases of emotion. We threw an American style party and watched the french rejoice while holding the infamous red solo cups*.  And here are some classier pictures:

Old

It was sunny that one time!

Old

*Red solo cups directly imported from NY. Or as they call em..."goblets rouges"

Still trying...

Again not in french. So hard to find. But its in Paris and she has angel voice!

Snowy Limoges

OUAH! (yay)

Last evening marked the first snow of the year in Limoges. I was hoping for a full on freak out by Limoges public transport authorities but to my disappointment the buses were running bright and early. Good thing the strike was still on! No school!

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Posted By h to Le Blog at 1/31/2012 05:12:00 AM

Garden party

Our friend's perfect back garden was host to a wonderful night sipping on wine and making new Italian, English and French friends. We're now dropping no so subtle hints about our own going away party. 

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Posted By hp to Le Blog at 3/29/2012 01:54:00 AM

Limoges spring

For the first time in months, my small fingers have felt the warm rays of the sun. They are confused but happy. I can stop taking Vitamin D pills. Spring is here. *

* edit: In retrospect this week of "spring" was a complete fakeout. Its currently 45 degrees outside and raining and in the 30s at night. Conveniently we have no heat still. 

Just another porcelain museum

Everyone moving cafe going habits outdoors again.

Scariest school in all the land.

Another Limousin hobby.

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Posted By hp to Le Blog at 3/27/2012 02:15:00 PM

Limoges in action

May need to listen to this on silent. But this girl actually starts running on our normal running route at one point. Just replace the punk gear and hair with American running shorts and a dorky hat and voila. Ma vie. 

And after 6 months...my name is a mystery.

Dinner party

Wednesday night we cooked a dinner for a few French friends. We toned down our usual healthyvegetarianunappetizing food and made some pasta so as to not scare the French. They were still a little uneasy but after we added a baguette and wine they were comforted. 

The Limoges Basketball Team

Can you find me? They uploaded this to their Facebook fan page right after OMG CELEBS: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Limoges-CSP-Page-Officielle/166206516768216

The other day I had the opportunity to tag along with my students and go meet the Limoges professional basketball team. Believe it or not, Limoges basketball used to be the number one team in all of Europe! I served as a translator for the three American players (ZomG **<3 professional athletes <3?!) which was pretty hilarious.  Oh and the other teacher thought I was a student.

Did you know that in order to be a professional sports coach in France you have to be bilingual?

Donnez-moi SUGAR

Image from pinterest

Not sure if we've been over France's love of all things chocolaty, creamy, fluffy, and sweet.  I know I know. French people are supposedly thin because they eat small portions of really delicious food (and that thing about big lunches and not snacking). I've heard it too. I have never ever seen this in action. My students are always eating Prince cookies.  The other teachers have rich cake in the teachers lounge almost every day. I see high school students walking around eating madelines and croissants.  My roommate eats nutella crepes almost every day twice a day. Portions at restaurants are pretty massive and I have a hard time finishing them*.  It's scoffed upon if you don't order dessert.  I've made my point. Anyways I'm at an American style cafe called "Columbus Cafe" and you would not believe the amount of whipped cream and cookies I've seen consumed in the past hour. The whipped cream towers at least three and a half inches above the top of the cup and everyone orders it. It's pretty wonderful that no one harbors guilt about ordering whatever the hell they want.

The cookie I'm eating is the size of my face. Meant to be shared? Maybe...

In other coffee related news...We hit up Starbucks in Paris** and had an encounter with infamous Parisian customer service values.  We go in, order our drinks, pay...normal order of things right? What comes next? Oh they make your drink? No! Really?! Cause the barista thought that the way things went were...I order, I  pay, she doesn't make drink, I wait, we notify her of her mistake, she gets super angry and says we were supposed to wait next to the bar or else she doesn't know we need our drinks. Although I think the whole ordering and paying thing should have been an indication that drinks were needed. Anyways in the US we'd have come out of this with a $20 gift card. Here we got our money back, no coffees, no apologies, and left. 

Finished the cookie. BAM.

* Who are we kidding- of course I finish them.

** Yadayada you're in France and go to Starbucks?! Sometimes I just need it ya know?

Limoges Early December

Photos courtesy of Eric.

En route to "our" bar.

Our door. That hole leads to our basement. 

Knobbly horror trees

In the Limoges winter one gets a glimpse of what is under those perfectly manicured round trees that line every street and park. We call these creatures "knobbly horror trees".  They cut them down like this to make the trees have an attractive, round shape...when they have leaves. Aren't they straight out of a Tim Burton movie?

Wwoof article

My friend and roomie writes for a travel site and her latest article is about Wwoof-ing. Check it out here if you're interested!

Petite things I like

My house key. How adorable?

This Creme de Marron makes great gateaux.  This tub of honey is so easy to eat with a spoon. 

Best yogurt ever. Wish I could take it home with me.

Cutest jam.

Cuisine-ing at a bar

Last Tuesday Katy and I had the opportunity to cook with our french bartender/restaurant owner friends. Although I mostly de-shelled some pistachios and pressed "marche" on the food processor, I can now claim I have cooked a "terrine" from scratch.  After cooking we ate a delicious meal with cheese, wine and apres meal drink included.

 So many meats

Giant Cheese

Photos courtesy of Katy at http://katy-out-there.tumblr.com/

Mothership

I've officially moved! My new address is 32 Rue Petiniaud Dubos, Limoges 87000 France.

Here are some shots of the main living room and...the stove. It's bright and airy and happy. Pictures of the cave (dungeon laundry facility), dining room and my tiny closet bedroom to come! 

Fete de Dinde: Thanksgiving in France

My apartment hosted a Thanksgiving fete on Saturday.  There was all the usual Thanksgiving foods (minus cranberries...they don't even have cranberry juice here) with some french add-ons. After hosting this huge meal I have so much respect for  all hosts of past and present Thanksgiving. And I didn't even cook everything. I'm happy to say that although away from home and dealing with strange french ingredients (or lack there of) we pulled together a very happy Thanksgiving. Hopefully the magic of Thanksgiving made an impression on our English, Irish, New Zealand and French friends who also attended.

Limoges November